Walking to the stand in the dark

How far do you guys have to walk to get to your stand? Is your walk a spooky one?

I plan on doing some hunting in the forest this year and I imagine I will be walking a good bit in the dark. I tend to get jumpy and this is me when I hear a sound:

Yep do it all the time. Sometimes as far as half a mile from the 4 wheeler.

Yet in reality thar b some like that.
As pappy says:

tis why i hunted hogs at night, tis scared of me own shadow.

Would arive before sun-rise & leave after sun-set. Toughest part was finding stand in dark. Always counted me steps, one morning couldnt find me stand, so just stopped & waited for day light, twas just several trees away.
First time night (caveman) hog hunt at first lease, 1,100acres. Eased inta old tree stand just as sun set, could see atv trail. Sat for several hours, nothing, so got down & parrelled the atv trail further back slowly angling twards trail.
never did find it. Things completly different in the dark, shirt twas half way ripped off, all the briars. Next day, walked trail, it turned west shortly after the place left it.
Nowdays got gps, & NV. Stay Safe, know a young lady who got shot, cause some one heard movement.
Went inta thick areas, day & night after wounded hogs,


edit many a nights on hog hunts walked out after dark with NO flashlight sevearal miles from truck.
As some one once said:

I guarantee you, that is me in the video walking to the stand at night. I always carry two clips. One to get the bogie-man on the way to the stand, and one to hunt with after I'm in the stand.

I hunt north East Texas, heavy brush and thick trees. During bow season, pretty well walk everywhere, 100 to 800 yards. During gun season normally drive 4 wheeler to about 200 yards from stand. Normally I am ok walking to stand or sitting on the ground hunting in the dark. I have been on property though that gave me the heebee jeebies and that was in the daytime or the dark. Never was concerned with what was there as far as living but of the spirit world, that's another story.

If I do hunt out of a stand I either park under it or if it is a ground blind I park beside it.

the dark never really bothered me ... until one crisp morning in CO I was backtracking and found a bear track on top of my earlier foot print in the mud.

The last couple of years, I've had one of my leases in east TX that is about 1/4 mile from where I park my truck, I'm one of those early risers and get in the blind at least 45 minutes to an hour before shooting light, sometimes earlier. pretty thick pines & underbrush intertwined with game trails on the walk ... then some of the other hunters got to talking about mountain lions in the area ... then the LO talked about some 6-9' gators in the duck pond that I pass within 20-30 yards heading to one stand. Made me re-think a quiet casual stroll before/after dark. Still not spooked, but more cautious.

I ain't scared of the dark. But walking through spider webs in the dark.i don't know how I've not beaten myself black and blue trying to kill spiders that may or may not be on my face.

I walk everywhere when I hunt. The dark does not spook me but I carry a small red lensed flashlight. My fear is walking up on a skunk more than anything. If I see shadows moving or hear a noise I just hit it with the red light to see what it is.

I'm with you! NO problem on most properties but there's always a few that just kind of make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Ever seen two big grown men scared to death on a levee from a weird singing coming from the woods?

Walking deep in to the shnf at night should be no big deal right. Well go pull up bigfoot reports and locations. Sure enough there are literally hundreds of sightings just in my area of the shnf. No big deal right it is just fake. Then one day I hear this "whooop" and I also find this crazy tree structure. All of this in the same area I hunt. Do I think about it walking that 1.5 miles in the dark? Yes I do but I still go.

When I night hunt, I'm pretty sure that I'm the most dangerous thing in the woods.

After walking the streets of Oak Cliff at night, hiding in bushes, and surviving rabid animal attacks, I’ve discovered that I’m the baddest mofo in the woods. If I should be killed while hunting, then so be it, I am where I am happy.

You're always the baddest mutha in the woods until your mind tells you otherwise. Mountain lion, bear, and mexican are the only things that crossed my mind at times walking to the stand and those aren't likely problems.

My two biggies noted above - skunks and spider webs. If I walk through a web, I will have the skin crawlies for hours.

Will say, many years ago I flushed a large covey of quail about an hour before light. That was ... startling.

One evening, walking back to camp in the dark, (caliche roads), I heard a popping sound, I turned on my flashlight to see a skunk with it's tail raised ready to spray. He was popping his teeth to get my attention. Y'all can call me "Dolomite", 'cause I AM the baddest mofo in the valley.

I park right by the blind when rifle hunting and very close when archery hunting. I feed with the Ranger so it don't matter how quite I am getting there.

Kind of wish I didn't read your post. Even worse is that I wish I didn't feel the desire to go see that website that you mentioned.

I have gone out around 10:00pm at the ranch with a full moon hunting hogs. I take a headlamp but never turn it on (only if I have to.) I will walk from camp with my scoped rifle and side arm and follow the senderos or dirt roads two miles into the south texas brush hunting hogs. I don't need any light! Moon light is all you need. I ain't scared of nothing.

been there done that with the skunks as mentioned ^ ^ ^
in previous posts.
luckily, i've been able to freeze on the spot and
not been sprayed.
there are more than a few big cats in the part of east Texas
i hunt. i used to worry about one dropping off a limb onto
me in the dark, until i had to spend a week in the I.C.U. a
couple of years ago. that was truly something to be scared of.
the rest of it is gravy compared to that. these hood rats &
ghetto types here in southeast dallas worry me more than
any of the animals that i can shoot without worry over a lawsuit.

i'll continue to walk out in the dark as long as my legs work.
i'd rather be a lion turd than a bleeding robbery victim.

I can one up the skunk folks...

One night was out in the field with my thermal gear looking for hogs. Spotted a close skunk walking toward me so I just stood still...he kept coming toward me....kept coming, until it started sniffing at my boots. I guess the smell didn't freak it out as it just kept walking.

Bad thing is I could see the whole thing with my thermal handheld. Glad I didn't get the sudden urge to sneeze or cough.

Been there, done that. Sure will wake you up...

Only thing that worries me walking to the stand is the hogs and snakes and both are thick in my bottoms. From where I park my cart, I walk about 300 yards.

My biggest fear in the dark is snakes. I have walked up on enough hogs at night now that it doesn't bother me too much anymore. Never seen a Squatch so I am still a non-believer.

Trust me dont read them! I hunt near stubblefield campground and the amount of sightings in that area is incredible. How can all of these people be making stuff up? So far I have been whooped at and I found this tree structure right in the middle of my hunting grounds and this is the 2nd tree structure that I have found. While scouting for pigs over near Cleveland I found another tree structure.

give me the grid and I’ll go get him with the thermal and shotgun

I was the boogie man once. I was bow hunting late Oct in East Tx and stayed on the stand till dark. I had heard a group go down the dirt road on the north boarder of lease. It was a county road, but it was dirt. As it was getting dark I heard the group coming back down the road. They were on a hay ride with a tractor pulling. I had no intention of scaring anybody. As I walked out of the woods the tractor was coming by so I just stood still waiting on them to pass. The driver almost jumped off the tractor when she looked my direction and saw me standing next to the road. When she screamed and stood up to get off (while the tractor was still moving) everybody on the trailer looked at what she was looking at and started to get off. As it turned out they stopped and talked to me a min. I think to catch their breath and as we laughed about the scare they took off down the road. I started walking down the road back to my truck then only to look up and see a doe standing in the road 30 yds from us. Go figure. I was scared the lady was going to jump off the tractor while moving.

[/quote] give me the grid and I’ll go get him with the thermal and shotgun [/quote]

Oh no. Im going to be the famous hunter with the biggest prize.

I always use a light when hunting public land, and in areas where I've seen recent hog activity. I just don't hate deer as much as I once did when killing one was more important than personal safety.

no wonder why ya never see bigfoot.
He sees ya coming from a quarter mile away with that thar light a shining.

Did i ever tells ya bout the time,




Oh wait,

ya i did.

I was in a bow blind one day, hotter than you know what, hearing crackling noises, branches breaking, coming my direction... got all keyed up, then it was a horse, with a rider, walked right to our rusty ol tripod, and the old cowboy knocked on it to see how much corn was in it... having switched from bow to Sig, I said, "Can I help you?"... after he and the horse calmed down, he said he was looking for a missing calf from the place next door, I told him in no uncertain terms that the n*&)(*& calf was not in my feeder.... and to leave...

Snake boots are a must for night hunting, at least for me. The only two things that really concern me are snakes and loose bulls.

Yes sir, me too. I'll turn into a nancy boy PDQ if I have spiders on me. Otherwise, I'm not worried because I'm at the top of the food chain.

Sometimes I carry a thermal scope pulled off my rifle to see when walking to the deer stand. It works great. I do not like to use a flash light, unless absolutely needed.

Often walked in pitch black dark to my stands to hunt. Sometimes in excess of a mile. Can say there times the hair stood up on the back of my neck when unknown critters crashed away in the dark. Especially un nerving when all you have is a bow!!!!

So...in your world spiders are at the top of the food chain?

I miss those days and the quail.

I walk about 300 yards, no problem wide road and not in the middle of nowhere.

Just remember, woodcock never flush in the dark unless they’re in the presence of Bigfoot. So if it happens to you, he’s right behind you.

Yes, yes they are!!

I think the scariest thing that ever has happened to me on the way to the stand was almost getting run down by a buck that was spooked and running away from the feeder down the trail I was on at twilight (which means it was very dark in the woods). Fortunately, the buck saw me and went around me, but I didn't see him until I got my light on after he went by me.



Right, my wife says I can't come home if I have been sprayed by a skunk, LOL.



Pretty much the same way for ghosts, UFOs, alien abductions, Nessy, Champ, etc. etc. etc. They want to believe. https://www.livescience.com/5046-monsters-ghosts-gods.html

One of my spots is a little over 200 acres on the red river.

It's not uncommon to see 20,30 different hogs.

In groups of 2,5,10 and single boar, 12, etc

I HATE leaving the evening hunt while I know there are several groups around me or blocking my trail back.

This is a common pic up there, I'm covered up. I could kill hogs every hunt and NEVER make a dent.

It's my boogie man

Wow! Definitely a target rich environment!

I walk a mile to my stand but it's not a bad walk as most of it is along a dirt road. I've walked the woods in ETX for years hunting and there were definitely times when the heart would start racing because of the sounds.

Target rich it is, Ive shot many. Quiet in and out, I work hard to keep it that way.

But especially during the rut, I WILL NOT pull the trigger on a hog.

We've owned this property for about 12 years. The hogs are about like ants, it's unreal.

You could wipe out 2-3 a sit with a bow.

Ever walked under a bunch of roosting turkey? I have. Thought the world was ending.

My dad and sister did when she was about 11. That one still makes for a good campfire story. LOL.

ha, I was out coon hunting one night, shot one that stuck up in a big pecan tree, I crawled up about 12-15 feet high to retrieve the stuck coon when the whole dang tree exploded with flapping all around my head ... it was a turkey roost with a couple dozen all around me. I am surprised I didn't fall out. definitely got my attention

Get a green led clip light for your cap brim. Doesn't spook game and lets you see where you're going. We use them to get back into prime elk country sometimes a mile from the road. Have to get an early start to get to the good country before daylight.
Pretty weird to walk right up on bedded game or shine some big eyes with them while walking in.

Covey of quail will just about cause heart failure.

Freakin pack of Javelina running between my legs leaving my stand at my lease in Webb country back in the late 80's just about scared me to death. Dang blind a...ss Javelina's running into me and between my legs.........I was jumpy for a couple of weeks after that.

Spider webs and quail cause more frights than anything else for me. Nothing worse that walking into a spider web in the dark. I drop pretty everything I’m carrying to fight the brain sucking spider that’s in my hair or on my face. When I flush a covey in the dark, especially when stalking pigs, I’m 100% certain I’m nano seconds from dying a violent death.

x100. I just know every spider web I walk into is a black widow and I'm seconds away from death. I'll beat myself like a monkey on fire.

Y'all do realize the same stuff thats in the woods in the dark is there in daylight too right

Not walking to the stand but coming out in the dark . . .

My friend used to rent an 18 acre farmette surrounded by huge corn and soybean fields. Fox hunting was wildly (and still is) popular with horses & hounds in Northern Baltimore Co., Maryland.

His farmette was laced with horse trails cut through the woods so riders could gallop safely through without fear of tree limbs.

Well . . . It was bow season and the sun had set so I was on my way out walking down one of these horse trails with my back pack on, Bakker stand under one arm (tells you something about age, right?) and bow in other hand. No firearms at all.

Suddenly up ahead of me about 20 yards a group of whitetail dart across the trail from my right to my left.

No big deal, right?

Well, when I got almost parallel to where they crossed over, on the left in the trees is a PI$$ED OFF mature doe, snorting, stomping her feet at me with her ears laid back about 10 yards away.

I froze in my tracks. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before. My hands were full and even with the moonlight if I had enough time to drop everything and nock an arrow I would not have been able to see my pins.

Then all of a sudden a yearling or younger leapt out of the woods on the right of the trail (where the group had originated from) and crossed the trail about 10 yards away from me. Once it entered the woods on the left and rejoined what I can only assume was its mother, they both melted into the trees, and I continued on my way out of the woods.

That was the most frightened I have ever been by a wild animal and to think it was only a doe, but man, she meant business!

Rmocarsky

Spiders are bigger and more deadly at night. It's science.

Doc speaks the truth!

You do know that it won't be a venomous spider web you walk through right.

I've never understood the fear of spiders by hunters. There's only two you have to worry about, you clean your blind out a few times a year you'll never have to worry about them.

Your not being able to understand my unreasonable fear of spiders means nothing to me.

Get a sealed blind and never worry again.

Unreasonable of irrational....

Either way...liking snakes I fully understand phobias....I just try to educate folks....but as you say, fear is fear...its a hard thing to overcome.....

I feel the same way about scorpions.....kill every one I see....I HATE THEM!

I just walk with my shooting sticks extended and at a 45 degree angle from my waist. This knocks down the majority of spider webs.

Hold the front door. Venomous spiders don't web?

Either of way I ain't walking around with one of those big brown spiders on my face. Nope nope nope

They web up, but not across trails. They get up underneath nooks and crannies, they like the dark.

Walked into a bedded herd of elk one time about an hr before 1st light, I smelled them 1st and seconds later the earth erupted. I knew what I had done, so all I could do was stand still and put my arms over my face, was a little "shake" goin on for a few minutes afterwards.

Here in Texas I try to avoid copperheads and skunks and always ready for another of my neighbors pits.

I picked up a tarantula at our city pistol range and put him on my shoulder prior to a pistol qual. He stayed put for the entire qual

I'm going to trap a skunk and slip him in your work trailer

Lies. All lies.

For some reason snakes don't scare me but spiders are a different story. Funny story...I was at my Dad's a while back and a big black snake was laying real still out in front of his barn looking like a limb and we were walking over to the corral. I said, "Dad, there's a snake". He about jumped out of his skin and started breathing heavy, I thought he was gonna have a panic attack. My Dad is one of the coolest dudes around but he is deathly afraid of snakes. I about laughed my [censored] off.


If there was video of some of the times I walked through a web at night I would win America's Funniest Home Videos.

Right there with you with AFV and spiders. They were thick in my backyard earlier this year and I looked like a fool going to the garage. Apparantly the basketball goal and truck were good anchors. Good practice for the lease.

Hey, I know where you live and have a red river friend with NV, so....